1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a document image management device and a document image management method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there are document image management systems like the following.
One of them is a system by which a menu of lists for files recently used by a user is shown to the user, and as soon as the user selects a file therefrom, the file is opened so that the user can edit it. Although this technique is convenient when the same document is edited over and over again, this technique can only open a specified file, and there is an inconvenience that other operations cannot be executed on the file from the menu. In addition, some kind of functions cannot be associated with each file shown on the menu, and functions and files cannot be presented in pair.
There is a technique similar to this technique, by which, on a menu on which a list of functions is presented, functions are shown in order in which they are most frequently used by the user. However, this technique also cannot associate each file with each function.
The above techniques associated with a program on a computer, namely, OS and office application software are widely known, and in addition, the similar function is achieved on an image forming device, for example, a digital MFP (MultiFunction Peripheral) having functions of a copy machine, a printer and a facsimile.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-254719 (1998) discloses an invention in which, when a user who wants to make a copy in an image forming device selects a copy function from its menu, the most frequently used sub functions related to copying are shown on the same position as that of a copy tab. That is to say, in a series of operations spanning multiple steps, such as, copying, faxing and print setting, the system determines by learning a candidate for the function to be executed next on the previously selected function, and shows it in priority. As just described, it is known that, when each main function has a hierarchical structure to allow finer sub functions to be executed, the next operations are presumed from the habit of the user operation, and shown in priority to improve operability. However, there is no technique of presenting those functions that are related, not among the functions that are in hierarchical relationship, but among those functions, each of which is a complete function.
There is completely different approach in which the histories of operations executed in the past by a user are accumulated, a list of histories is presented to the user so that the user selects any of histories from the list, and the same processing as that of the selected operation history is executed automatically. This is effective at repeating the exactly same operation as the operation executed in the past. However, changing a portion of the previous history, for example, when moving a document, changing the destination to a folder that is different from the previous one, or changing the document to be moved to a different document, etc., is not assumed. Merely, the same operation is executed strictly on the same target, and to the same operation source or destination. Thus, in practice, when the same operation as the previous operation was executed, the similar operation was repeated again.
As an example of using history information, in an invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-335010 (1996), an executed action is memorized as history information, together with the person, time, place, target or the like, associated with the execution. Then, a series of executed actions are associated and memorized as history information, allowing the history information to be exploited in devices other than the device on which the operation was executed. However, the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-335010 (1996) focuses on centralizing and exploiting the operation history information that were managed separately on each image forming device in prior art. Therefore, the improvement in operability for a user who repeats the same operation is not taken account of, and processing such as determining the display order on the menu based on the previous operations by the user is not executed.
As described above, as an invention of improving its operability when a user often executes the same operation in a document image management system, there are prior arts like the following. First, there is a technique by which a list of documents used in the past by a user is shown to prompt the user to select a document from the list, and then the selected document is opened. In addition, there is a technique by which functions are reordered in order in which they are most frequently used by a user, or only functions that the user have used before are presented, and the functions that the user have not used are masked from the list before a function menu is shown. In addition, there is a technique by which operation history is presented to a user to allow the user to select any of histories, so that the same processing as that of the history that the user selected can be executed again.